


A Quiet Sun

by journeycat



Category: Emelan - Tamora Pierce, PIERCE Tamora - Works
Genre: Gen, Grief/Mourning, family ties
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-10
Updated: 2015-09-10
Packaged: 2018-04-20 02:32:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4770266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/journeycat/pseuds/journeycat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vedris meets Sandry for the first time since the death of her parents.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Quiet Sun

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for Royal Week at Goldenlake in June of 2010.

He had always found rain soothing, almost lighthearted even in winter, but Vedris could only think it lonely now as he listened to the black-glad ghost in his library speak of the horrible atrocity that had befallen her family. His family. Their family.

_Ah, little one, what sorrows you have known_.

Already had he heard it from Niklaren, but it was far more terrible to hear it from Sandry and her quivering voice. Mattin and Amiliane had always loved to travel and they did it frequently, but it seemed their nomadic lifestyle had finally bested them. It was simply the wrong city at the wrong time, and they had paid for it with their free-spirited lives.

And now—well, now he had their daughter, as beautiful as Matt had been, but with Amiliane's steel in her spine. But what to do with her? Namorn could take better care of her. As much as Vedris would love to keep her light in this dim castle, he could not attend to her as she needed, and she would only wilt like a flower denied a gardener's love.

The library went quiet, Sandry’s story told in full. He turned to look at them, and in particular his great-niece, thin, wispy, threatening to disappear like smoke.

“Master Niko, it was good of you to bring Sandrilene to me, particularly at this time of year.”

“The land roads weren’t so bad, your Grace,” replied Niko. “And certainly I couldn’t abandon Sandry at that point.”

“I know I should have waited till spring, Uncle,” the girl added with solemn eyes, “but I just couldn’t. Hatar—it’s a giant graveyard now. I couldn’t stay an hour more.”

A graveyard of bodies, a graveyard of memories. Vedris would never have expected her to stay.

He smiled at her. “I understand, my dear. You don’t have to apologize.”

Sandry returned his smile with a little one of her own. It was dim and trembling, but there was sunshine in it, if only it would come out. He decided, instantly, that he wanted her to stay after all, if only somewhere close to him—he could use a little more sunshine in his life.


End file.
